p2pnet - rss feed: Free speech in Canada
p2pnet: This is going to be long and complicated and with all kinds of digressions. So if that kind of thing doesn’t appeal to you, better move along.
But for those of you who want to stick around, this is a kind of Thank You note to Nikki Hemming and Sharman Networks for initiating an experience through which I’ve met Wenda Atkin and Ruth Hatton in Ontario, Dan Burnett in BC, Mireille and Claude in Quebec, Gerald in Germany, JP in France, and a lot of other people in a lot of other countries.
And this ‘Thank You’ isn’t meant to be sarcastic. I mean it.
There aren’t a whole lot of separate factions online. We’re all in it together, pros and cons, pluses and minuses. Because we’re all of us synergistically connected in almost magical ways through this huge, mysterious network of people and machines we call the Net.
Hemming and Sharman have also given my daughter, Emma, my wife, Liz, and myself a chance to do something few families are able to do – examine our commitments both to each other and to things we believe in. Deeply.
Hemming and Sharman decided to sue me for libel, alleging I’d defamed them in an article outlining Australian court proceedings into Hemming’s assets. They’re also demanding the identity of a p2pnet reader who posted an anonymous comment which I included in the same story. But as I say in the Stop-the-Blogsuit Campaign, “as far as I’m concerned, an anonymous post is the same as a confidential source. I don’t have to like a post, or even agree with it. But I believe that as an honest and responsible human being, I do have to safeguard the poster, if indeed I know who he or she is which in this case, I don’t.
“If Sharman wins it’ll make life a potential hell for bloggers in Canada, at the least. And you can bet the case will be used as a reference for similar actions around the world.”
“I mean ‘cmon,” I can hear someone saying. “That’s really stretching it.” But No. It’s not.
To digress, we barely break even on p2pnet and since S&H (as I’ll call them from now on) had hired Roger McConchie, who seems pretty aggressive, I had to find someone of high caliber to work with me. And the distinction ‘with’ as opposed to ‘for’ is important. It was vital that whomever ended up handling the legal end should be committed in a personal way to the concept of freedom of speech.
In Canada, just about anyone can sue anyone else for libel. But traditionally, it isn’t for the plaintiff to prove falsehood or even damage. It’s the other way around. Guilty until proven innocent, in other words.
I had Sharman on my trail and because I’m not exactly flush, this meant launching an online appeal to collect funds with which to defend myself against the charges shot-gunned at me by S&H.
My friend Sandro in Quebec created the Stop-the-Blogsuit Campaign, registered the urls, did the graphics and designed the site, something he’d also done for Patti Santangelo, the New York mother of five who is, ironically, being sued by someone on the other side of the fence, someone who’s been after Kazaa for years.
Kazaa? “We find that Kazaa is badware because it misleadingly advertises itself as spywarefree, does not completely remove all components during the uninstall process, interferes with computer use, and makes undisclosed modifications to other software,” says StopBadware,org, an organization started by Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and Oxford University’s Oxford Internet Institute, with the support of several prominent tech companies, including Google, Lenovo, and Sun Microsystems. Consumer Reports WebWatch is serving as an unpaid special advisor.
The someone who’s after Patti is actually a something, the RIAA, to be exact. That’s short for the Recording Industry Association of America, a hard-core enforcement outfit more or less owned by the Big Four Organized Music cartel.
The Big Four, Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, claim they’re being devastated (their word) by file sharers, and they say Patti is one such; and that she, and millions of other file sharers, have been depriving them of their profits by using Kazaa and other applications to distribute music online.
There are much better p2p programs, but Kazaa was first in the door after Big Music killed Napster, the app that started it all. The current Napster is but a wan and pale shadow of the original.
The Big Four say people such as Patti are thieves who commit the dastardly crime of sharing music with each other online, even though file sharing isn’t a crime and nothing was, or has been, stolen by her or any of the other 19,000 or so men, women and children currently being pilloried by the labels in the US as part of a bizarre marketing scheme.
The idea apparently is: you try to sue your customers into buying product they won’t buy any other way. And not at all coincidentally, most of the 19,000 were using Kazaa, and most, if not all, of them - especially the children - say they weren’t aware they were doing anything wrong.
Sandro designed and registered Fight Goliath to which p2pnet readers are contributing to help Patti defend herself against the allegations.
Sharman, meanwhile, is what The Register’s Ashlee Vance calls, “the big daddy behind the infamous Kazaa,” with the same pronounciation as kazoo. It’s hated equally by consumers and the music industry and I’ve been writing about it ever since p2pnet started. The story which S&H claim upset them was one such, and Wenda was one of the first people to contribute to the Stop-the-Blogsuit Campaign.
I’ve been emailing Thank-Yous and Wenda emailed back, “Regarding that law suit, when people go out of their way to actively and publicly make things right in this world, they open themselves to criticism. They go beyond their comfort zone and become a potential public target. It appears that Canadians are now getting international attention for the way we are taking back control from the corporatations with the formation of the Canadian Music Creators Coalition (CMCC). No doubt it’s thanks to you, and the other writers - the Geists, the McOrmonds - and to those who read the facts and realize we are strong in numbers.
“Anyway, good luck and thank you for your p2pnet.net.”
Among other things, Wenda runs two music sites, one, CanadaJams.ca, of a generic nature, and the other, PeterboroughJams, based in Peterborough, Ontario.
Peterborough?
I’ve been a reporter for most of my life but when my wife got pregnant, we decided we wanted to home-school our child. This meant coming up with a new way of earning a living so I could be around. Liz and I have always liked collecting old things so we started selling antiques in Lakefield, a village close to Peterborough.
I’m also a musician and one of my best mates in that part of the world is Dennis O’Toole, a very well known balladeer and folk singer. And Yes, Wenda doesn’t only know Dennis, she was at his recent birthday party when she heard him playing steel guitar. And when we dug a little deeper, we discovered Wenda is an antique fiend who’d visited our store in Lakefield.
Small world.
But I still needed counsel, so I surfed around and discovered Dan Burnett, a media lawyer who, in a CTV article, was quoted as saying he wanted to see the constitutionally enshrined right of free expression on the same legal footing as an accused person’s right to a fair trial.
That looked good to me. But how was I, broke as I am, to get Burnett to talk to me, let alone possibly work with me on this case?
Like McConchie, he practices in British Columbia, Canada, and like McConchie, he’s based in Vancouver. I, in turn, am on Vancouver Island, an hour-and-a-half by ferry from the mainland. And a simple phone call was all it took. We had a brief chat, he said he was indeed someone who believed in freedom of speech both on- and offline, and I arranged to meet him in his office at the top of a tall skyscraper in downtown Vancouver on the afternoon of Monday, May 29.
To digress again, as I said earlier, we home-school Emma, and thank God we do. Anyway, she’s nearly 10, and on that day, Liz and she were slated for a meeting with other parents who prefer to educate their kids themselves.
I don’t drive and normally, Liz, Emma and I would have gone to the mainland together. But they wanted to go to the meeting, which meant I’d catch the bus to the ferry. No worries. The meeting with Burnett was going to be very important and a bus-ride would give me a chance to think.
So I boarded a Greyhound coach in Duncan, bound for Nanaimo, where I’d get a ferry to Horseshoe Bay, and from there, still on the bus, to Vancouver. I sat next to a charming lady named Ruth Hatton who was on Vancouver Island visiting relatives. She told me she was on her way to Qualicum, a little north of Nanaimo, and was soon heading back to Ontario.
Interestingly, she turned out to be the webmaster for CarlysArt, a site she runs for Carly, her artistically gifted grand-daughter, aged 13. 
Ruth explained Carly was autistic and her paintings and drawings were the way she was best able to express herself. That’s Carly on the right at the top of the page, and the two dogs are an example of her work.
Ruth and I ended up trading stories and she explained she used to run a flea-market in Gannanoque, near Kingston, Ontario. And given that Liz and I used to get a lot of our stock from local flea-markets, and that we’d often bought items in and around Gannanoque, we figured it was a sure bet we’d been in her store.
Small world.
She asked me why I was going to Vancouver and when I explained, wondering if she’d ever heard of Kazaa, she said she had. And what she’d heard wasn’t positive.
We parted company at the Nanaimo bus terminal when a new driver took over. He announced we’d soon be boarding the ferry and, “I know that accent,” I said to myself. He was from Ilford, London. I was born in Hillingdon, North London. And I’d moved from my first newspaper, the Folkestone Herald, to, Yup, the Ilford Pictorial.
But we’re not quite done.
I spent an intense two hours with Dan and he agreed to work with me. And it turned out we also have a home-schooling connection. His sister home-schools her kids and lives fairly near to us. Liz and I don’t know her, but one of the home-schooling families we spend a lot of time with, does.
Connections within connections. Synergies within synergies. Small worlds within each other. And coincidences.
One way or another, we’re all part of this embryonic entity we call the Net and ultimately, there’s no good or bad. Just change.
I still hope we’ll be able to resolve this amicably, but if not, not. Because as I’ve said a number of times, for me, this isn’t a contest between p2pnet and Sharman Networks. In fact, it isn’t about libel, or me or S&H at all.
It’s about freedom of speech in Canada, and the lawsuit is threatening it. As Russell McOrmond, a frequent p2pnet contributor and a staunch supporter of openness on the Net, said in a comment post:
“The articles [the subject of the lawsuit] were not flattering, but the subjects of the messages are ‘famous’ persons within the p2p community and [the articles] didn’t seem any more defamatory than the average episode of CBC’s ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ is towards Canadian politicians. Both may be on the edge, and both may be uncomfortable if you are the subject of what is being said, but that is a far cry from saying that a court should silence this speech.
“This case is not about Jon’s ‘version of free speech’, but trying to ensure that Jon as a private blogger is offered at least the same level of free speech protection as a large broadcaster.”
And in another comment, “… our belief in free speech is not tested by protecting speech we agree with, but the willingness to protect speech that we find appalling. I personally wouldn’t use Jon’s style in my own communications (trying to attract a mildly different audience), but I haven’t found anything I’ve personally read to cross any lines (moral or legal).”
So all of the above is to say I’ve been put into a situation which I dreaded, at first, but for which I’m now grateful.
Some elements are going to continue cause me and my family a great deal of grief and trouble. But free speech is the most fundamental of all human rights and without wishing to be trite, Liz, Emma and I decided we’re privileged to be able to stand up for it in Canada and, ultimately, in other parts of the world.
How many people can claim that?
So once again, Sharman and Nikki, thanks. Really.
Meanwhile, the court case is going to be expensive. Sharman has deep pockets, but p2pnet’s entire income is from the adverts you see on the site. They also pay our mortgage and other living expenses.
So we’re running an appeal and any and all help will be very greatly appreciated.
If you don’t like PayPal, here’s an address:
Jon Newton
PO Box 1532, Lake Cowichan
British Columbia V0R 2G0
Canada
Cheers! And thanks …
Digg this story.
June 2nd, 2006 at 5:18 pm
talk about a “six degrees of separation” situation!
that was a very nice story and i hope S+H read it and are sweating bullets and soiling their collective pants.
going up against the community which helped them achieve their notoriety and infamousness(?), and trying to silence people is the wrong thing to do. it’s almost as bad a suing your customers into buying low quality, over-priced “product”, which btw is what kazaa crapware is.
June 2nd, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Pity on the S+H issue. Would have been good for them to join forces and use the funds that were spent on this to support P2P.
June 2nd, 2006 at 6:53 pm
Kazaa is now fighting a two front war and we all know the results throughout history of that.
The other option (and I’ve only heard it expressed once on these threads that I’ve read) is that perhaps this is part of a secret deal with the entertainment industry in trying to discredit these type of sites.
This is for all you conspiracy theorists out there. Personally I’m leaning toward the two front war idea. They’re too stupid to engage in a conspiracy. Just my opinion.
Rick
June 2nd, 2006 at 6:55 pm
I hope that people who are upset with Kazaa will grant them as much respect as many in the P2P community have granted the RIAA. While I have never considered using their software (I only use Free/Libre and Open Source Software where adequate independent security audits can be done), I hope that people will cease using their software now.
Glad Jon is feeling strong about all of this. It is easy for people to speculate what they would do if their freedoms were being attacked, but quite another to stand up and protect oneself when it happens for real.
I don’t know if people quite understand the importance of this case yet, but will as things progress.
Jon,
While we don’t have children, I still have a Home Schooling connection. I sponsor/host the following sites, based on friends who homeschool/unschool/etc their children:
Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents (OFTP)
http://www.ontariohomeschool.org/
Home Based Learning Network.
http://www.flora.org/hbln/
Canadian Homeschool Resource Page
http://www.flora.org/homeschool-ca/
Waldorf homeschooling initiative in Ottawa
http://www.flora.org/waldorfcoop/
June 2nd, 2006 at 7:08 pm
[quote]it’s almost as bad a suing your customers into buying low quality, over-priced “product”[/quote]
Almost? I’m sorry but this is definitely worse. Sadly, we Canadians take our freedoms and liberties for granted far too often these days. We’ve gotten lazy, no doubt about it. While this lawsuit is certainly bad for Jon on many levels, I do hope some good may still come from it. From Jons what Jon has written, it seems he feels so as well. Everyone whom is lucky enough to live in a country where free speech is seen as a God given right needs to heed this wake up call, which I’m certain we all knew was inevitably coming eventually, and not just us Canadians. That time is finally upon us and it’s time to act. What Sharman and Nikki Hemming are doing is one heck of a slap in the face, not just to Jon an his poor family, but to ALL of us who love freedom, and at this point whether we are for or against P2P is completely irrelevent. The repercussions from the kind of precidence that could be set by this case is huge, and it’s time for everyone to do their part and donate if they can. How many kind and caring people have died so we can have all of these freedoms we take for granted I ask you? Donating even a little bit of money to Jons legal cause is doing your part for eveyone, not just him, and is a tiny price to pay compared to what so many of our forfathers have had to endure in order to give us the life we so enjoy today. I’m sure many of us have known a family member at one point or another who saw the horrors of WWII for example. Speaking for myself, there is absolutely no way in hell I’m going to let Nikki and Sharman spit in my face and tell me to like it. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure our freedoms are upheld, not just for me but my whole family and fellow countrymen. The world has a tendency to think of us Canadians as weak willed, and that we are pushovers. It’s time to show them just how damn wrong they are, those arrogant bastards. I’ve had enough of all the smug attitudes I see so often these days, haven’t you all? And what kind of example are we setting for Canada’s youth if we just sit idly by and let these kinds of travesties come to bear without so much as lifting a finger to fight it? What happens afterwards? Just how many freedoms are we willing to give up besides that of speech? Just what kind of future do we really want to live in?
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:36 pm
One of the posters wrote earlier that their ISP had gotten an order for their name but I can;t find the post-anyone know where it is now was just there earlier.
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:42 am
“I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.” - Voltaire
And so would I.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:02 am
As would I, and I’m not even Canadian
For what it’s worth Jon, you do have the support of one ripping group. You and I probably don’t see eye to eye regarding what we do, but we can’t sit idly by and let the creators of scumware kazaa rein hell down on you. We never liked the software, the low quality files, and one of our members is hellbent on spyware removal these days…
We will be including a link to your site p2pnet.net in all future .nfo file releases.
June 3rd, 2006 at 7:26 am
That was a great read Jon. Keep keeping us informed on the procedings. I am too on the island and would very much like to be at any court cases for support of the issues. I am glad that you have found someone that will work for you. And hope everything works out in the end.
June 3rd, 2006 at 1:27 pm
I came across an article in the washington post this morning.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201465.html
One thing sticks out to me. (Like i previously told someone else, i am 2-weeks new to this p2p blog thing so i don’t see the big deal) This is the part that sticks out to me in that article:
“NEW YORK (Billboard) - As the recording industry tries to block file trading of songs across peer-to-peer networks, blogs and other viral distribution channels, the major labels suddenly have a whole new piracy concern: music videos.”
Why would they try and “block blogs”? Why would a blog be a “viral distribution channel”?
Someone previously mentioned a consiracey theory of kaza burning the candle on both ends yesterday in another thread…
I wasn’t aware this blog site made me want to download music…
Anyhow, its just something that stuck out to me.
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Is this site hosted on a server within the United States? If it is, I think that it’s subject to US laws, so shouldn’t the suit be filed in US courts?
June 4th, 2006 at 1:04 am
“Wotch!” Jon…LOL,
I’m glad you have all of these positive vibes going in your direction! The outcome of this case will most likely be one of many to help set precidents for the Internet as a whole. Each and every one of us should be glad there are people like you out there with the intestinal fortitude to stand up and say, “Enough IS ENOUGH!” You and yours are within my prayers. I know I speak for quite a few when I say “THANK YOU!”
“Cheers!”
“J” @};-
P.$: If you readers out there haven’t already done so, clean out your couches/sofas/divans and car seats and ANTY UP!!!!! Jon needs all the help he can get to meet his goals FOR US!!!!! The lea$t we can do is to pitch in and help him help us.
June 4th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
-= Disclaimer: This is just my opinion. =-
- As such I’m NOT suggesting any comment -
- following this preface is true. In fact -
- I live in a fairy-tale and nothing I -
- say should be taken seriously. -
“Why would they try and “block blogs”? Why would a blog be a “viral distribution channel”? ”
It’s not, and we all know that. Whoever wrote that probably
knows it too.
It’s all part of the same campaign to lock down the internet
for the same reasons.
Stifle potential competition.
The RIAA has used everything from Porn to Terrorism as reasons
to criminalize P2P, not because of revenue, but because p2p
creates a way for the unsigned artists and bands to be heard,
without having to pay a cut to them. Since the unsigned GREATLY
outnumber the acts they control, the competition is incredible.
The RIAA fears THIS more than anything.
Now, think about how many times blogs have either “scooped”
mainstream news or blasted out news that maintream sources
tried desperately to ignore or hide. This makes the blogosphere
a major source of competition for those who have traditionally
held the keys to all media.
Competition and control is really the root of all of this. It doesn’t
surprise me that yet ANOTHER falsehood is being portrayed as
truth to further villify the competition.
June 4th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Nice clarification.
Very well put.
Deserves its own title and made into a user-comment article.
June 4th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
I have lieved almost as much time in USA as I have in Canada (i am Canadian born/raised). I have always thought that canada is freeer than US, I always feel able to speak my mind in Canada but in USA, people will oppose you (like I do not have the right to complain).
http://www.FriendlyCanadian.com
http://www.Canuckster.com
June 4th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
Just because someone oposes you doesn’t mean they don’t think you have a right to complain. aren’t they also exercizing their right to complain about your complaining??
June 5th, 2006 at 4:00 am
Really glad you’ve found representation Jon. Hopefully this case is won on your side - freedom to communicate online will be lost if the court’s aren’t careful with this one. Time for change.
_-Jile-_
June 5th, 2006 at 6:27 am
Media companies are powerful because they (used to) control access to information where “information” is news and current events, comedy, drama, talkback radio, etc.
Then the internet came along and fucked all that up. So when I (and others) say “they” we’re talking about people and companies who are losing their control over the information.
Therefore, anything they can’t control is a threat to them. Blogs can be written by anybody and read by anybody and take away from the time we used to spend “consuming” the mainstream media.
June 5th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
It’s being offended!
This country has become the United STUPID States of America.
June 6th, 2006 at 12:13 am
hearing oposing viewpoints are always offending. freedom of speech means supporting anothers right to say something you hate to hear, and vice versa. sounds like when you complain about the government it’s free speech but when someone who supports the government complains about you complaining it’s stupid. sounds like a double standard to me.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:33 am
what about all the posters who have disagreed with John’s position, sorry, John’s deleted them so you don’t know the whole story, do you?
June 6th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Thats not true.
My husband voiced his opinion in a different thread against an admin here. The admin fired back verbally as well.
Both posts are still there.
but you flood a thread. you try to insite hate directed against a person. you are trying to help ruin a person.
I would delete your threads and ban your ip. But each to their own….
June 6th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
..
June 6th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
…
June 6th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
..
June 6th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
make that one reader or i should say troll. you a sharman shill. maybe if you had something to say instead of the same old crap over and over you would stil be posting
June 6th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
This is the first (and, I hope, the last) time I’ve had to consistently delete comments.
The troll either works for Sharman and Hemming directly or indirectly, or is in love with them. I left his/her comments up exactly as posted in three or four stories. But the ‘comments’ are always the same. And boring. Very boring. So I now trash them whenever I see them.
If you really want a look at the kind of stuff this person has been posting, go here - http://www.p2pnet.net/story/8814.
This kind of obvious abuse is, fortunately, an exception – the only exception in four years, in fact. Meanwhile, other comment flames (the troll/shill’s favourite word) will continue to run as usual.
Cheers!
June 6th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
http://techdirt.com/articles/20060606/0323235.shtml
Does this help? or at least give some more hope?
June 7th, 2006 at 1:24 am
although I actually like this site. Can I sacrifice myself anyway?
June 7th, 2006 at 2:31 am
Hi there Jon you may already know that your suit has made the bbc news.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5048556.stm
My husband Michael is the cheif editor of openpolitics which is also mentioned in the article. As it states we are also in the beginning stages of a similar suit.
Anyways we would like to wish you well and don’t let the bastards get you down!
Feel free to contact my husband Michael Pilling through openpolitics.ca
June 7th, 2006 at 11:52 am
Thought I’d leave this one up. It’s a little more creative than usual ; )
Cheers!
June 7th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
lol more creative in the way it says the same things, only this time it added more BS.
Mr. Troll probably doesn’t like the fact S&H will lose.
Mr. Troll doesn’t like the fact u have advertizers that won’t go to his p2p web site.
Mr. Troll doesn’t like the fact the BBC and many others are picking up the story.
Mr. Troll doesn’t like the fact he will soon lose his shill-money!
June 7th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
-= Disclaimer: This is just my opinion. =-
- As such I’m NOT suggesting any comment -
- following this preface is true. In fact -
- I live in a fairy-tale and nothing I -
- say should be taken seriously. -
LOL,
its starting to remind me of a Halloween episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ….
The one with the eensy-weensy demon ( actual size ) that said
” fear me, Feeeeear me ” in an itsy bitsy voice. Then Giles stepped
on it like a cockroach.
The troll has turned itself into a cartoon, a caricature and thus
ended it’s usefulness to anyone
June 7th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
lol
June 7th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
“if only Hemming had paid advertising you’d be entirely different…..”
She doesn’t??? I guess all that spyware she puts into her application and locks up peoples computers is just there out of the goodness of her heart.
You’re obsessed with streamcast Nikki, er I mean ms/mr troll
June 7th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
not really. problem is the suit is over what Jon wrote as well. Also BC has different laws.
June 7th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
-= Disclaimer:This is just my opinion. =-
- As such I’m NOT suggesting any comment following -
- this preface is true. In fact I live in a fairy-tale -
- and nothing I say should be taken seriously. -
Not really.
The suit has nothing to do with anything Jon wrote.
It has to do with an article provided by Associated Press ( not being sued ), and responses written by other people in the comments section, one of which Sharman REALLY wants the identity of.
The only truth you told is that BC does have different laws.
Notably, thanks to all the attention Sharman insisted on, those
laws just may change for the better.
buh bye Gachnar
June 8th, 2006 at 3:34 am
And that obviously meant I had to submit to being arse raped by the advertiser and all their mates. And I had to promise them my firstborn child. And I had to give them my cat as a down payment on the kid.
And I had to murder the employees of their compeditors.
And I had to sell heroin for them too. And shelter the CEOs fugitive brother-in-law from the US marshals. And donate my wife’s kidney to him when he was shot during a raid on my house…
Get a fucking grip pal, you’ve been studying RIAA operating methods for too long.
Jon has space on the site, the advertisers have money. If you think the relationship goes further than that, you’re deluding yourself.
June 9th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I am on the island as well - Salt Spring =) I’ll be watching and if I can be there, I will be there.
June 10th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
I would donate to you, but i wrote you several emails and you ignored me.
June 10th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
June 11th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
in
June 15th, 2006 at 3:39 am
Canada free???
Isn’t Canada part of Alaska??
Amerikans think so!
July 2nd, 2006 at 8:56 am
In South Africa a Company named Tigon did the same type of thing, however this is related to the biggest fraud in RSA. (www.thetigonbook.co.za). The woman, Sue Bennett, has the same mentality of sueing people and distroying their lives. They tried to sue journalists and also ban www.moneyweb.co.za from having blogs where some fital information was posted by members in the public which helped our authorities to investigte the complicated fraud. They, obviously failed in their attemp. It’s worth the while to search our court records to see the line of argument by the laywers. A word of advice - allign yourself with champions!
July 2nd, 2006 at 8:59 am
In South Africa a Company named Tigon did the same type of thing, however this is related to the biggest fraud in RSA. (www.thetigonbook.co.za). The woman, Sue Bennett, has the same mentality of sueing people and distroying their lives. They tried to sue journalists and also ban www.moneyweb.co.za from having blogs where some fital information was posted by members in the public which helped our authorities to investigte the complicated fraud. They, obviously failed in their attemp. It’s worth the while to search our court records to see the line of argument by the laywers. A word of advice - allign yourself with champions!
July 2nd, 2006 at 9:02 am
In the case above, it was obvious that people was to scared to come public with information. The blogs provided much more information than any interview and/or summons to appear as witness in court. The company faces, also with the assistance of blogs, a massive +/- 3,000.00 charges. Blogs can be good and bad, it’s for the reader of the comments to decide what is good and bad. Furthermore, the fact that they reacted to a blog, states that there is more to the comment than what meets the eye. Worth investigating.
July 18th, 2006 at 8:41 am
I Belive that we all share responcibility for almost everything that we do but to file a friviliss law on someone just cause they want to be nice to someone is kind of sick well so we are talking about the rich aren’t we. I remember when we used to be able to copy casset’s for somone and we did alot of that all the time. I’m sorry but I dont see the reson for it. like gas whats the big deal about that I remember when we owned the oil field’s over sea’s it was our steel that built that place and now we are scared to take it back I dont think so it’s all about money. I have a car that get’s 60 miles per gal and you would think that the car people would build more of them hell know they want fuel econamy to go to hell it make’s them more money so the rich get richer and well you know the rest so good luck im geting ready to go to canada were they kill for a reason under God not under a flag…
July 24th, 2006 at 10:02 am
I totally agree with this story - freedom of speech is being threatened everywhere. Even in England, at a humble secondary school, I was threatened with expulsion from the school - and even the possibility of legal action - purely because, during a discussion about the school in an internet forum, I happened to say how I felt about my headteacher.
Ok, maybe what I said was wrong. I’m not denying that. I’m just pointing out that this was my own opinion and I don’t see why such action had to be taken. My headteacher said to me ‘what makes you think you can behave like that?’. Has she not seen satirical television programmes? They insult the prime minister, prominent politicians and celebrities - yet these people don’t get in legal trouble for it! Anyway, it’s hardly as if my headteacher actually suffered becasue of these comments. I felt I had a right to make them. But, apparently, if you put it on a website, it can be construed as libel. Even though, for me, blogging is simply like a phonecall to all of my friends at once.
So I support this completely. People should not sue people just for saying what they believe (unless, of course it causes serious harm). Plus, the internet IS sharing. It’s sharing material with other people. Apparently, though, in SOME aspects - particularly those of the music industry - it is considered wrong. Weren’t we all taught to share?
August 19th, 2006 at 10:32 pm
Hemming and Sharman appear not to understand free speech or democracy.
Unfortunately, Jon these idiots are helping to destroy a great website.
Hemming and Sharman - Kiss My Ass !
September 28th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
I know I’m coming into this late but I’ve only just discovered the story. Mine is a different perspective, being the victim of persistent allegations though fortunately others have recently come to the defence. I run a social purpose business based in the UK (we promote economic development and advocate social enterprise) and it all started with a letter I recieved from foreign aid workers describing “concentration camp” condition in an Ukrainian institution for disabled children.
For the last few weeks we’ve been plagued with accusations which start with drug and alchohol abuse an end with suggestions that we’re conducting the biggest scam the world has ever known. The pepretrator is known to us having his passport details and letters of complaint written to other parties which bear his name. The objective would appear to be to wipe the story off the news by any means,l including impersonation of a colleague’s ID to misrepresent him.
Recently at least, one forum has taken a stand and banned him completely for conducting a hate campaign, most others are oblivious.
Search my name and the story “Ukraine Death Camps for Children” and you’ll no doubt see what I mean
Jeff Mowatt
October 18th, 2006 at 9:32 am
Here’s some free speech for you: You’re being an idiot.
Criticism isn not evidence of lack of freedom; it’s proof of it.